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What services does your business offer and what makes your business stand out from the competition?
We offer a variety of different dance styles and fitness training to adults who continue to aspire to dance.
Is your location strictly for adults, or can kids participate as well?
18 years & older
What was the inspiration to start or run this business?
NYC Dance Arts
was founded in 2011 to provide the opportunity for individuals to continue their passion in dance.
What do you love most about your job?
Offering a variety of different internal and external opportunities for the dance community.

A rare outlet for commercially sanctioned laughter in downtown Los Angeles, Garrett Morris’ Downtown Blues and Comedy Club helps visitors escape the stresses of the workweek with a rotating stable of top-tier standup talent every Friday and Saturday. Comic legend Garrett Morris, now seen as Earl on CBS’ 2 Broke Girls, hosts showcases of comic talent with charming wit and tales of how he outlived the original cast of Saturday Night Live. The bill remains consistently loaded with fresh-faced and seasoned funny folk, with past luminaries including George Lopez, Margaret Cho, and Wayne Brady, along with aspiring stars in the twilight before their first mismatched-marriage sitcom.
Keeping true to its name and Morris’ roots in the New Orleans music scene, the venue often punctuates its comedy shows with performances from top blues artists—including Morris himself, who has lent his soulful pipes to the Harry Belafonte Singers—that add melody to the mirth. While weekend shows feature Garrett’s hosting and harmonies along with the headlining acts, the Thursday Night Experience allows youthful burgeoning comics and musicians to hog the spotlight.

Hershey Theatre
The Hershey Theatre, conceived in 1933 by noted philanthropist and chocolatier Milton S. Hershey, stands as an opulent tribute to the performing arts. Taking architectural cues from Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice, the foyer’s towering arches gleam with golden paint and crystal chandeliers. The blue-and-gold mosaic that leads to the main seating area is the masterwork of two German artists who spent two years on its construction. Once inside the theater, audiences might think they’ve stepped onto the streets of Venice thanks to the atmospheric ceiling, stonework facades, and gondoliers paddling them to their seats.
####Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
Music has permeated the 800 manicured acres where the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts has stood since 1969, when farmer Max Yasgur agreed to let love, peace, and harmony grow wild at the very first Woodstock festival. These days, the renowned outdoor venue and cultural center continues to attract the biggest acts in music to its pavilion stage. The open-air design ensures ample ventilation on the natural sloping lawn, and a roof protects up to 15,000 fans from inclement weather and the prying eyes of Cessna pilots.

Newsweek's Laura Shapiro once offered a succinct history of American modern dance: "In the beginning there was Martha Graham, who changed the face of an art form and discovered a new world. Then there was Merce Cunningham, who stripped away the externals and showed us the heart of movement. And then there was Paul Taylor, who let the sun shine in." The last living member of this homegrown pantheon, Taylor has not finished innovating yet, adding new pieces each year to a prolific catalog of 140 dances. Romantic, iconoclastic, dauntingly athletic, and sometimes hilarious, his works heft weighty topics such as war, spirituality, sexuality, and mortality onto their shoulders, then alchemize them into weighty dances that seem to exist for the sheer pleasure of their beauty.
Among his countless accolades, the champion choreographer has received a Kennedy Center Honor, the National Medal of Arts, and the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship “genius award.” Such a rich and prolific body of work makes it easy for the Paul Taylor Dance Company to harvest a unique program for each performance, which they have done in 520 cities throughout 62 countries.

Raindance began as a thought experiment: can you make a movie with no money or experience, and without going to film school? 22 years, later Raindance now has 12 film networking and training hubs worldwide, and runs the largest indie film festival in Europe, the Raindance Film Festival. They provide hands on training, networking events, financing opportunities, and an innovative Membership program to help new and emerging filmmakers get their projects made.
Raindance's practical filmmaking and writing workshops break the daunting cinema-creation process into digestible workshops as industry professionals help to elevate the aptitude of independent filmmakers. Students can select courses that teach film industry basics including how to build a budget, choose a camera, and promote themselves. As a non-profit training and networking organization that works to promote and support filmmaking throughout the world, many classes conclude with networking sessions at local bars where participants can trade business cards to further their cinematic pursuits.

Though they hail from all over the world, the instructors at Bellyqueen are united by their passion for belly dance. Their dedication to the Middle Eastern art—and their eagerness to educate others about the empowering, often misunderstood dance form—led co-founder Kaeshi Chai to established their own bellydancing company and school in the East Village. Kaeshi's enthusiasm has caught on—since opening in 1998, Bellyqueen has gained acclaim for its unconventional workouts welcoming participants of all sizes and skill levels.
Today, the bustling studio continues to teach traditional bellydancing techniques while incorporating world-fusion styles. Experienced instructors guide guests through the sensual movements, encouraging them as they practice footwork, breath, and presentation. When they aren’t fine-tuning their routines to eyeball-enticing perfection, students can watch Bellyqueen’s professional dancers perform at weekly Djam NYC shows at Jebon and special events.

Groupon Guide

For such a freewheeling artform, burlesque has a surprising number of unwritten rules. Is it okay to yell? What about tipping? Given that the performers routinely strip down to nothing but pasties, how does one know what to wear to a burlesque show (or, more in the spirit of the proceedings, what not to wear)? To answer these burning questions of burlesque etiquette, we sought the advice of Kitten LaRue and Lou Henry Hoover. A brassy burlesque starlet and her drag-king husband, Kitten n' Lou were named “Most Comedic” at the Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, which is a pretty big deal in the world of burlesque. Thankfully, they had plenty of tips to help you have a sexy (and polite) time at your first show.What to ExpectKitten’s number one tip for any audience member? Expect the unexpected. “A lot of people have a preconceived notion of what burlesque is,” she says, but it’s best to “go in with an open mind.” It might be tempting to try to research all you can beforehand, but Kitten doesn’t think that’s necessary. “As an audience member, it’s good to have an open mind and just be willing to go on an adventure with the performers.”What to WearKitten sees burlesque as a “fantasy of glamour,” so she’s not crazy about seeing shorts, sweatpants, or flip-flops at her shows. Thankfully, this isn’t usually a problem. “Sometimes the audience is dressed better than the performers,” she says with a laugh, and Lou is right there with her. “I love that form of respect for the performers,” he says, “because it does matter what you wear.”When (and What) to Holler“Be prepared to make noise,” Kitten says. “That’s a thing that newbies are a little shy about.” Remember, this isn’t a symphony or a play—the performers want to hear you hoot and holler when you see something you like. Just don’t try to tell them what to do. “One thing that’s not useful to yell is ‘Take your clothes off!’,” Lou explains. “Don’t worry. It’s going to happen.”What Not to DoPerformers are almost always delighted to chat and pose for pictures after the show is over. But there’s one thing Kitten would like you to keep in mind during the photo opp: “Do not touch a girl’s hair to see if it’s real!” Lou agrees. “Don’t touch anything to see if it’s real,” he warns. “Don’t touch anything unless invited, period.” During the show, there are some basic rules that mainly fall within the bounds of basic common sense. The biggest one? “Never come up on stage unless invited,” Kitten says.How to TipBefore you go, it might not be totally obvious if the performers will be asking for tips, so bring some cash just in case. Once you get there, you won’t have to worry about figuring it out on the fly. “It’s always very clear if the performers are looking for tips or not. It’s never a mystery to the audience,” Lou says.The Golden Rule: Be Generous
It takes a lot of courage to take your clothes off on stage, so audience members should keep in mind just how open the performers are being and behave accordingly. “It’s a very generous act, and a very generous artform,” Kitten says. “A person has really put a lot into what they’re doing, and they are allowing themselves to be vulnerable in order to entertain you … Someone is being generous onstage, and it’s important to remember to give that generosity back.”Photo courtesy of Kitten n' Lou.

When the clock strikes twelve and the rest of the world is in bed, the cult-movie crowd is ready for showtime. But what makes a midnight movie great is more than its timeslot. As pop-culture expert and Assistant Professor Megan Condis of Stephen F. Austin State University says, “There’s just something special about going places at midnight … it’s the witching hour.” If the concept seems overwhelming at first, read on. Once you understand what midnight movies are and what makes the experience so special (besides wearing fishnets and memorizing your favorite lines), you’ll be ready to get in on the fun, too.The Birth of the Midnight MovieStarting in the 1950s, the midnight movie was a way of cheaply filling late-night time slots on TV. But it wasn’t until about 1970 that movie theaters got in on the action. Big cities like New York and LA began screening B-movies and experimental films and found a hit with Alejandro Jodorowsky’s surrealist, convention-defying Western, El Topo. John Waters’s exploitation filth fest Pink Flamingos burst onto the scene in all its disgusting glory in 1972, but it wasn’t until 1975’s Rocky Horror Picture Show—the mother of all midnight movies—that a real cult hit was born. The film flopped commercially, but by 1976 it had become a cult sensation among late-night audiences. As Condis says, “They call it ‘cult’ because it’s like religion, right? [The audience] know[s] all the cues, and they know all the lines by heart.” And thus, a late-night star was born.The Three Types of Midnight MovieMidnight flicks tend to fall into three distinct categories: the Bizarre, the Bad, and the Classic. El Topo and Rocky Horror are the prototypes of the Bizarre category, each seen as experimental or, as Condis puts it, “notorious ‘drug movies’ [where] you would go to see this crazy visual spectacle while your perspective was being altered.” But while Bizarre movies tend to center around societal transgressions, the Bad are more about aesthetic transgressions in filmmaking. With wooden acting, terrible scripts, and laughable effects, these flicks don’t look like anything we’re used to seeing in a theater. This “so bad it’s good” style is how indie disasters like Birdemic: Shock and Terror and The Room have become phenomenons, filling up theaters at midnight screenings across the country. But a studio can’t try to make one of these. The beauty is in how seriously a bad film takes itself. “[There has to be] something in the energy of it,” Condis notes. “If you feel like this is a ploy to cash in on audience participation somehow, then fans reject it.” Finally, there’s the film type that’s easiest to seek out at midnight: the Classic. Screened anywhere from drive-ins and art houses to the biggest theater chains, these midnight shows include familiar titles like Jurassic Park and The Breakfast Club. Condis speculates that these kinds of screenings endure because it’s “a way of giving yourself permission to indulge in innocence again,” while leaving your critical impulses behind and simply enjoying the spectacle.Getting in on the Action
What a midnight movie requires of you depends on what you’re seeing. In general, almost everything you’d never do at your local megaplex—shouting back at the screen, singing along, hurling props through the theater—are all fair game. The scale of audience interaction can vary and tends to be lower at Classic film screenings and far higher at cult hits. At screenings of The Room, for example, audiences know exactly when to toss footballs around the theater or talk back to the screen in unison. But whichever type of midnight movie you see, just remember to go with the flow and let the audience around you be your guide. Because whether you’ve seen a movie 100 times or never, “If you have a chance to see a midnight movie, don’t pass on it,” Condis says. “It’s about being there in that space at that time. It’s just different. Something magical happens.”Art by Mark Mills, Groupon.

Starting with the construction of Baltimore’s Camden Yards in the early 1990s, Major League Baseball stadiums began to take on more elements of the pastime’s past. Gone were the artificial outfields and multipurpose domes, replaced by classic touches such as red-brick walls and wooden bench seats. In recent years, however, the neighborhoods around some of these ballparks have evolved into trendy urban spaces complete with galleries, museums, boutiques, and breweries. Figuring out what to do before a baseball game has never been easier—if you are attending a game at one of these classic fields.Coors Field in Denver, COThe Neighborhood: Lower Downtown (or LoDo). Denver’s oldest neighborhood has revitalized itself in recent years, with breweries, art galleries, and nightclubs taking up residence in the area’s historic warehouses. Where to Eat Before the Game: Sure, the stadium has hot dogs, too, but you’ve never had a hot dog like the ones at Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs (2148 Larimer St.). Whether it’s made from rattlesnake or Alaskan reindeer, a sausage at Jim’s makes the ballpark fare seem like the minor leagues. Where to Drink After the Game: Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper founded Wynkoop Brewing Company (1634 18th St.) before he took office, and the brewery’s small-batch brews likely helped with his polling. Nearby, The 1up (1925 Blake St.) pairs drinks with retro video games. Read our Definitive Guide for the Arcade Bar before checking it out. What to Do with the Kids: The National Ballpark Museum (1940 Blake St.) houses bricks and seats from ballparks around the country, as well as colorful exhibits on Wrigley Field and Fenway Park.Fenway Park in Boston, MAThe Neighborhood: Fenway–Kenmore. Several neighborhoods in one, this historic district is rich in brownstones and benefits from the student life that spills over into Kenmore Square and east down Commonwealth Avenue. Where to Eat Before the Game: With five glorious variations on the tater tot platter—including one with poutine toppings!—The Lower Depths (476 Commonwealth Ave.) is the place to go. But parents take note: despite “Big Kid Plates” and build-your-own gourmet hot dogs, Lower Depths is strictly for grownups. Where to Drink After the Game: It’s hard to beat Boston Beer Works (61 Brookline Ave.), where the Bunker Hill Blueberry Ale—brewed and garnished with Maine blueberries—is always on tap. The landmark brewery is a stone’s pitch away from Fenway, attracting its fair share of students and tourists. What to Do with the Kids: Arrive early and take a guided tour of historic Fenway Park, where kids can check the massive Green Monster for any trolls living inside. The last tour of the day leaves hours before game time, but you can still catch a peek of the players warming up.Petco Park in San Diego, CAThe Neighborhood: East Village. The fastest-growing neighborhood in a city filled with them, the once-quiet enclave has transitioned from a community of artists to a hub of San Diegan nightlife. Where to Eat Before the Game: The owners of Grapes and Hops Deli (811 Market St.) seem to have confused San Diego’s East Village with New York’s. How else to explain a menu highlighted by towering pastrami and corned-beef sandwiches? Where to Drink After the Game: True to San Diego’s thriving craft-beer culture, Knotty Barrel (844 Market St.) is a newish gastropub with 20 craft brews on tap. Choose four from the sampler menu, and make sure at least one of them is brewed locally. What to Do with the Kids: East Village is renowned for being a bicycle-friendly neighborhood, so explore it on two wheels with a rental from The Bike Revolution (522 6th Ave.).Comerica Park in Detroit, MIThe Neighborhood: Downtown Detroit. Ground zero for Detroit’s continuing urban revitalization, this is where the Motor City’s theater, sports, and nightlife cultures collide. Where to Eat Before the Game: Bucharest Grill (2040 Park Ave.) may serve stuffed peppers and other staples of Romanian cuisine, but the casual lunch spot is more worldly than its name suggests. The hot dogs alone cover everywhere from Germany (the Berliner) to Michigan (the Hamtramck). Where to Drink After the Game: Sure, you could take a trip back to Bucharest or its next-door neighbor, The Park Bar (2040 Park Ave.), for coneys and Michigan-brewed craft beers. But if you’re attending a Friday or Saturday game, walk the extra half-mile to Cafe D’Mongo’s Speakeasy for classic cocktails, live music, and an overwhelming number of antiques. What to Do with the Kids: Arrive a few hours early and take a stroll down the scenic Detroit RiverFront. The RiverFront Conservancy even hosts an interactive kids’ program called Reading & Rhythm, during which youngsters can hear a story read by a local celebrity reader and ride on the Cullen Family Carousel.Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, MDThe Neighborhood: Inner Harbor. A short walk from Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium, this historic seaport is now the beating heart of tourism in Baltimore. Where to Eat Before the Game: Baltimore is indeed a Southern city, and nowhere is that more apparent than at Miss Shirley’s (750 E. Pratt St.), where grits and fried green tomatoes share the menu with a B’more specialty—jumbo lump crab cakes. Where to Drink After the Game: If you’re in Baltimore and you’re not drinking Natty Boh, it’s time to see the light. Sliders (504 Washington Blvd.) is a bastion of sanity in a harbor gone mad, with $3 tall boys of the sweet Natty nectar on game day. What to Do with the Kids: One of the world’s largest aquariums, the National Aquarium (501 E. Pratt St.) houses more than 17,000 sea creatures. Don’t miss the exhibit that depicts a typical Australian river gorge, home to seemingly every species except the country’s kayaking wallabies.Photos: Coors Field by Max and Dee Bernt. LoDo Clock Tower by Nan Palmero. Fenway Park, Van Ness St, Boston (493465) by Robert Linsdell. section 300, row 19, seat 2 (Petco Park) by Peyri Herrera. Comerica Park by Michael Kumm. Detroit Riverfront by HarshLight. Oriole Park at Camden Yards by Keith Allison. All Flickr photos under CC BY 2.0.